Cats Always

Chapter 8. Trouble in the tribe.

"This is ridiculous!" Grunted a deep gruff voice. It was a foreign voice that Pouncival certainly did not recognise. The small tom groaned and peeped open his eyes as he came too, his whole body ached as he tried to shuffle around. That was when the source of the voice caught his eye. There standing by a heavy duty door were two tall grey toms. Burly and brawny in build. One had a face of thunder, a scar slashed through one eye. The other was looking much more timid, evidently on the receiving end of a verbal backhand. "You got the wrong Jellicle!"

"How wus I 'sposed to know?!" The other screeched in defense.

"Your instructions were clear!" Roared the scarred tom. Before the other one could protest the sound of bone cracking filled the room and Pouncival flinched.

"MY NOSE!" The second tom cried out, paws flying to clutch his now broken nose, blood seeped between his fingers and slowly dripped to the floor.

"Get back out there and do your job properly!" As number two scurried away, finally the first turned his attention back to the prisoner in the room. "Oh, splendid. You're awake." He mumbled, stalking closer. The Jellicle tried to rise to his feet and flee from the tom, only to be halted by chains yanking him back.

"Look pal- I don't know why I'm here but-" Pouncival's timid sentence was cut short as the grey tom's fist collided with his jaw. The echo of a crack filled the room and the significantly smaller tom was knocked to the ground seeing stars.

"Keep your mouth shut." Growled the tom, looming over Pouncival.

*

Munkustrap watched as night peaked over the horizon, pinks, oranges and violet cascaded across the sky as day was slowly melting into night. A gentle breeze rustled his whiskers and he sniffed the air. It was a calm dawn, especially after the storm that had raged the previous night, but it wasn't just the weather that had rattled the inhabitants of the Jellicle Junkyard - Pouncival was still missing. Eventually the leader hopped down from his perch to meet with Alonzo.

"And there's no trail at all?" Munkustrap probed, rubbing his chin in thought.

Alonzo, the second in command and leader of the Guardians and Protectors shook his head, sighing heavily. "I've had every able body out looking. There's no trail, no scent- nothing." The tribe leader's current expression of worry only deepened. Pouncival had been missing for nearly two days now, having missed the birth of his kittens. They had already ruled out the possibility of him running away and abandoning his family, Teazer was adamant he would have never left like that.

"We need to keep searching. He would not have gone missing on his own accord." Heaving a sigh, the silver tom dismissed his Guardian. This was puzzling indeed and it was disturbing the peace that the yard had finally come to know. After taking a long walk to ponder, Munkustrap finally returned to the den he shared with his mate and not so young kittens. He found Demeter in the living area, she must've been waiting up for him because the gold queen was fast asleep with a book resting in her lap. Chuckling softly, the silver tom lifted her into his arms and carried his lady into their sleeping area, laying her down upon the blankets. Demeter soon stirred and rubbed her eyes.

"Any luck?" She mumbled, turning to gaze up at her mate.

"None yet." Munkustrap sighed, reaching out a paw to softly stroke her cheek. The leader's lips parted, as if words were about to leave him when a sudden piercing scream filled the Junkyard and immediately both cats sprung up, alert. Demeter's eyes widened, she knew that scream.

"Bomba!"

It only took seconds for a panicked crowd to form in the clearing, frantic faces huddled around Alonzo and Cassandra demanding to know what was going on and moments later, Munkustrap and Demeter joined them.

"What's going on?!" Munkustrap boomed, standing upon the tire.

"That was Bombalurina's scream!" Demeter worriedly added into the mix, making both the second and third in command look confused.

As if on cue, Angelo appeared on top of the junk pile near the grandfather clock. Only the silhouette of his figure was outlined by the moonlight. "Bomba is gone!" His deep voice only filled everyone with more panic, the volume of their voices rose again.

Munkustrap turned to face his tribe, his own heart was starting to pound. "Alonzo- Cassandra! Send out another search party!"

"We can't, there's no one left!" Countered the Burmese queen. The silver tom looked as of he wanted to scream in frustration, there was no mistake about it now, two Jellicles had been kidnapped. Now the question was... by who?

The leader glanced up to where Angelo had stood, only to see that he was already gone. He climbed down from the tire, catching his mate's paw. "Gather everyone into the community den, I'm going out searching." Demeter didn't even question it, she gave his paw a brief squeeze before calling everyone to follow her. "You two, with me." Munkustrap pointed to his Guardians, ushering them along with him.

The Lady of the tribe had managed to gather everyone into the community den within about ten minutes, taking a headcount and confirming the number with Jennyanydots who noted it down on a clipboard. Yet Demeter's eyes still anxiously darted around, she could see her two sons, but Hariena was still missing... and so was Zavian.

*

The young queen in question drew away from they grey tom holding her, panting softly and giving him a satisfied smile. Zavian's purr was raspy and rumbled in his chest and he returned the grin to the queen beneath him before lightly kissing her neck. "Well... that escalated quickly." Hariena giggled, nuzzling the grey tom.

"You're okay though?" He asked softly, lifting his head to meet her gaze.

"Okay? Zav, I've never felt more on top of the world!" She sighed, laying her head back to the pillow. "Just don't tell my parents."

"Bit of an awkward thing for me to tell them, but I wont." Zavian snorted. That only made Hariena beam and she craned her neck to softly join their lips in a kiss.